Property is a very valuable asset. It is unlikely to be worth less than £100,000 and it’s value is going up all the time. You need to be sure that your investment is protected by proper insurance.
First warning!
The first thing to say is that if you are renting the property out to tenants – the ordinary domestic insurance you use for your home is NOT suitable.
In fact, if you don’t tell your insurers that you are renting to tenants – this may be a reason for them to reject any claims you may make.
You need to have insurance which is specifically designed for landlords renting property to tenants.
It used to be hard to find suitable policies but now they are two a penny. Google ‘Landlords Insurance’ and you will get pages of links. So not a problem then.
Or is it?
Hidden problems in Insurance
Insurance is not an easy subject. There are all sorts of conditions and exceptions, fees and excesses, which maybe you didn’t really take in when chatting to that nice sales person on the phone.
True, they sent you a load of paperwork – but it’s all really boring and life is too short to read insurance particulars and policy details.
It’s only when you make a claim that (if you are unlucky) you find that your insurance company (which you chose as it seemed such a good deal) is entitled to reject all or part of your claim.
Or maybe over time you find that all sorts of charges are being made that apparently you agreed to. Making the insurance not really cheap at all.
You don’t want this to happen to you.
It’s important to realise that not all landlords insurance policies are the same and some are much more favourable to you than others. Which is why you need to be careful when choosing the company you go with.
To help I have drafted a five-part Landlord’s Insurance Mini Course with the help of landlord insurance experts Alan Boswell Group.
The Insurance Mini-Course contents
In the course I look at:
- What things you need to make sure are covered by your policies and the things to watch out for
- The hidden charges that may be made,
- The most common conditions found in insurance policies,
- The problems associated with tenant damage, in particular cannabis farms, and
- We also take a look at making a claim
When you have read it all you should have a much better grasp of what you need to watch out for when choosing insurance and what the pitfalls are. You may even decide to change your policy!
The course is completely free, so why not take a look at it?
You can find out more about it here.